The premise of October Baby sounds like it would be a great tear jerker and a powerful movie. It’s about a girl, Hannah who finds out she was adopted after her mother tried to abort her, but she survived. Hannah then goes on a journey to find her birth mother.
Of course, she is a teenager and her parents don’t want her to go on a long trip because she’s sick. I think maybe part of it was because it was with a bunch of other teenagers, but I might be remembering that incorrectly. So what does she do? She goes even though her father forbids her to go (well sort of - he forbids it and then says he trusts her to make the right decision). I think this is the first thing that makes me go “What?” Now, this is a Christian movie, and given that there’s a commandment about honoring your father and mother, it kind of shocked me that this movie included such blatant dishonoring, especially since it was presented as rather cool, or a good choice for her.
Anywho, she goes on the trip and from this point, the movie seems like a teeny-bopper movie. Among those on the trip are her best friend, Jason, and his girlfriend, Alanna. Alanna is, of course, one of those mean girlfriends without any redeeming qualities, making you want to root for them to break up and Jason to get with Hannah instead. Once again, this is a Christian movie, and it makes you root for the “other woman”. I know, they were only teens and dating, but still - what is with this trend? Can people not think of any other tension to bring to a love story? Surely even the fact that Jason and Hannah had been friends for years and now were beginning to like each other would have been enough.
At one point, Hannah and Jason break off from the group and go try to find Hannah’s birth mother by themselves. They stay in a hotel room and have a really awkward conversation because Hannah doesn’t want to sleep in the same bed and ends up confessing (and freaking out) about the fact that she is a virgin. She ends up going to the couch in the lobby, but then Jason comes too, and they end up falling asleep together there. Ya know, because that doesn’t just defeat the purpose of the whole previous scene. Oy!
They get arrested for breaking into an old hospital but they are let go without any charges. Hannah lies to her dad about still being with the group. The one good thing about that is that the dad finally catches up with the two and tells the boy not to contact Hannah anymore and Hannah gets in trouble as well. Good job, dad (and I mean that). However, the dad’s discipline here is kind of presented as over the top and as if you are supposed to feel bad for “poor Hannah”. Of course, later the teen guy apologizes to the dad, breaks up with his mean girlfriend, and the two teens end up dating.
When the movie finally does get back to the birth mother bits, you have almost forgot that was supposed to be the plot of the movie. Actually, that part is an alright plot, but it’s barely in there. The mother just rejects Hannah and so she is hurt, especially when she sees her birth mother with her husband and young child. Hannah later leaves a note for her saying she forgives her and the birth mother finds it and is overcome with emotion. That is the best part of the movie, but it’s only a scene, sadly.
So yes, there’s my rant on that. I probably could go on, but this is getting long. I’ll just finished with this: If you would like quality Christian movies, check out Flywheel, Facing the Giants, Fireproof, or Courageous. Those are great.